Prevalence of and influencing factors for chronic headaches among pregnant women

Headache and distress during pregnancy

OBJECTIVE

To determine the prevalence of headache, review variables believed to be associated, and assess distress levels in pregnant women.

METHODS

This is a cross-sectional study conducted on pregnant women who presented to a Training and Research Hospital in Sakarya, Turkey from June 1, 2020 to December 1, 2020. The study group consisted of 600 pregnant women who agreed to take part in the study. Chi-squared test and logistic regression analysis were used to analyze the data. Statistical significance level was accepted as P value of 0.05 or less.

RESULTS

The ages of pregnant women ranged from 19 to 44 years with a mean age of 29.01 ± 5.27 years. Prevalence of headache during pregnancy was found to be 55.7% (n = 334). The number of pregnant women at of distress was found to be 144 (24.0%). There was no difference between women with and without headache and between severity of headache and prevalence of distress (P > 0.05 for each).

CONCLUSION

Headache is an important health issue in pregnant women. There was no relationship between the presence and severity of headache and distress level.

Risk comparison for prenatal use of analgesics and selected birth defects, National Birth Defects Prevention Study 1997-2011

PURPOSE

To compare the use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and/or opioids to the use of acetaminophen without NSAIDs or opioids with respect to associations with birth defects.

METHODS

We used data from the National Birth Defects Prevention Study (1997-2011). Exposure was self-reported maternal analgesic use from the month before through the third month of pregnancy (periconceptional). Adjusted odds ratios (aORs) were calculated to examine associations with 16 birth defects.

RESULTS

Compared to acetaminophen, mothers reporting NSAIDs were significantly more likely to have offspring with gastroschisis, hypospadias, cleft palate, cleft lip with cleft palate, cleft lip without cleft palate, anencephaly, spina bifida, hypoplastic left heart syndrome, pulmonary valve stenosis, and tetralogy of Fallot (aOR range, 1.2-1.6). Opioids were associated with tetralogy of Fallot, perimembranous ventricular septal defect, and ventricular septal defect with atrial septal defect (aOR range, 1.8-2.3), whereas use of both opioids and NSAIDs was associated with gastroschisis, cleft palate, spina bifida, hypoplastic left heart syndrome, and pulmonary valve stenosis (aOR range, 2.0-2.9).

CONCLUSIONS

Compared to periconceptional use of acetaminophen, selected birth defects occurred more frequently among infants of women using NSAIDs and/or opioids. However, we could not definitely determine whether these risks relate to the drugs or to indications for treatment.